


Reckoning

by Zell_Hatoule



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Capsicle is an insult, Gen, Minor creative license in regards to how Super Soldier bodies work, Not Tony Stark Friendly, Pro Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, extremely minor body horror, mild PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26186182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zell_Hatoule/pseuds/Zell_Hatoule
Summary: Steve Rogers remembers his seventy years in the ice. That would have been fine, he thinks, if Stark hadn't chosen to mock the memories of a time best left forgotten.(Shortly after hearing Banner get mildly electrocuted was not the best of times for such a cruel mockery.)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 302





	Reckoning

**Author's Note:**

> I took some creative liberties on how good Steve's hearing was for this. This is unbeta'd, so there may be typos and it might flow oddly.

Steve grits his teeth, the sound  _ crunching _ through his skull and echoing in his mind at the nickname. “I’m sorry?” Steve tries for civility. “What did you call me?” Stark turns to face him - arrogant smile and cocky pose. His footsteps are loud in the room, accompanied by the humming of machines and the beat of others’ hearts.

Behind him, Banner’s heart is slower than even his own, but still fast compared to the original pulse he’d heard, accompanied by the sharp crackle of electricity that had brought him to the room in the first place.

(SHIELD was no Hydra, but for a moment, he'd heard that hissing snap and been dragged back into those sterile, clean places where he'd rescued Hydra's victims of torture and heard the hiss of electricity moments before another voice would scream in the distance.)

Stark’s heart, in comparison to the rest, was nothing but a machine. A buzzing crackle, accompanied by the wet pulses of blood as it was forced to beat. Unnatural, inhuman.

“Oh, I’m sorry  _ Capsicle, _ did that bother you?” He says sarcastically, words a flick off the roof of his mouth, a sinuous curl of malice. Behind him, Romanov winces - her heart speeds up a single pace. Thor - an Asgardian, as Steve felt distinctly uncomfortable calling the man a god - looks amused. Something in Steve snaps, tired and annoyed and angry. 

Capsicle. As though he was a  _ joke. _

“Do you think what happened to me is funny?” He asks, and Stark pauses at the look on his face. “Let me explain to you, what it’s like to freeze to death,  _ Mr. Stark.” _

Stark’s face pales, and he tries to cut Steve off with a hasty, “It was just a joke, man, seriously -”

“Lighten up?” Steve says mockingly, and Stark shuts up. “If you insist on making such ’jokes’ then you should know exactly why you shouldn’t.” Steve says flatly. “Especially when you make comments on something you  _ don’t _ understand.”

Steve takes a single step forward. “I thought I would freeze to death, and in a way, I did. But the Tesseract wasn’t a powerful object for nothing,” Steve tells him darkly. “I’ve read your file, heard about what you did. I know about your PTSD breaks - you like them?” Steve asks, and the mechanical pulse of Stark’s heart speeds up.

“Being under the ice was like being trapped in a nightmare, waking up and falling asleep from one horrible memory to the next. All the worst case scenarios - watching my friends die, over and over. Watching them die in ways they never experienced. If I had imagined it, the Tesseract would provide.”

He steps forward. “But the worst, by far, was the isolation. Minutes, hours, days,  _ weeks, months, years, _ where there was no sound. No light. That deep in the ocean, something has to be truly monumental to be heard, even with my enhancements. I’d guess it’s like a coma, in ways. No sound. No light. Nothing but your own heartbeat, if you’re lucky. Empty and hollow and yet, cramped and crowded like a too-small room where the only occupant is you.”

Stark’s face was pale, his breath shallow and the electrical beat of his heart pulsed wildly.

“Sometimes, the room would be big, stretched out wide so you couldn’t see the end. Other times, it was small and cramped, like you’d been fit in like a sausage in the meat grinder. Maybe, if you were unlucky, it was both at the same time.” Steve stands tall - stretched too much in his skin, small and big and strange in himself - before Stark.

“Seventy years in the ice. And you’ve cheapened it to a couple of syllables for your own entertainment. Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, and what are you really? The comments you use to build yourself up - are they real, or are they just a way to make yourself feel more important than you are?”

The room remains silent. Thor is pensive - his amusement is gone. Natasha’s eyes are full of sympathy he thinks is as much genuine as it is manipulative.

But it is Doctor Banner who he turns to look at - passes Fury by entirely. The man is wide-eyed, and he feels a little apologetic for subjecting the man to demons not his own.

“Dr. Banner. It’s not the best time, but I think perhaps we should get you some tea, and give you some time to calm down without someone bothering you.”

The spell is broken by his mild words, and cautiously, Banner nods.

“I could use something to ease my nerves,” Banner says, humouring him. Steve smiles, and turns to Romanov.

“You can show us the way, right Ms. Romanov?” He asks pleasantly, and she nods at him. “Thor, feel free to join us. And Stark. I’d suggest you leave the combat operations to the soldiers.”

When Steve had seen Tony Stark, he’d thought the man to be near-identical to Howard.

But it had only taken a handful of words to prove him wrong. Howard would have never made light of his experiences.


End file.
